A MEMORIAL DAY TO REMEMBER

Philippians 2:1-11 (KJV)
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This is certainly an unforgettable Memorial Day Weekend, isn’t it?

Did anyone ever think that, in the United States of America, it would be a punishable offense to a National Cemetery and honor those who have served our country?

Could you have ever imagined a day in the United States of America when a local New Testament Baptist Church has to be discreet about gathering for worship on a Sunday?

This weekend, for more than 30 years, my family has visited family cemeteries in Oregon. We’ve had to make adjustments as time has gone on and, frankly, we had planned a significant change even this year.

But who would have ever guessed that it would actually be an offense to cross state lines as a family, to visit the National Cemetery where my wife’s parents are buried?

I have thought several times, since the middle of March, that I can understand now how brothers, Christian brothers, even pastors, took up arms against one another during the Civil War.

While no one, that I am aware of, has grabbed a weapon, at this very moment Americans, Christians included, are separating lifelong relationships over:
· States’ Rights
· Constitutional Rights and
· Public well-being

I would suspect that almost all of us want the same thing, we are simply focusing our attention of different aspects of the problem.

I’ve been following a Christian statistician by the name of Dr. Douglas Frank, through this pestilence.
He has chosen to isolate himself from news sources of any type and attempt to analyze that is happening based solely on the data of reported cases of the virus and deaths due to the virus.

This morning he wrote an observation piece called,
"Liberal v Conservative"
“One of the things about this pandemic that I have found intriguing are the different responses based upon world view.
My favorite author on this idea is Jonathan Haidt, who has used hundreds of thousands of interviews and surveys to derive a set of "Moral Types" …[to] help us to understand how to relate well to others. …
… For example, both Conservatives and Liberals value "Equality." But they see it differently. Liberals think a situation is fair if the outcomes are the same. Conservatives think it's fair if everyone had an equal chance. Both value "Equality," just differently.”[1]

The people of our church have been amazing through this.
Most of the challenges I have experienced are from people who do not attend church at all or pastors, some of whom have been pretty judgmental for not just ignoring the Governor’s mandates.

So I have three thoughts I want to address for this “Memorial Day to Remember.”

I have come to think of this conundrum as a
I. THREE-PRONGED FORK

The first prong.
A. American civil liberties
I did a simple Wikipedia search and learned at between 1775-2019, there are more than 2,852,901 American casualties of war.

Almost 3 million Americans have died to
· Secure for us,
· Defend for us and
· Preserve for us
the rights granted in the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I attempted but was not able to find a number of men and women who have served in our country’s military since 1775.

The point is, they served, they fought, and they died, so we could have:
· Freedom of assembly
· Freedom of speech
· Freedom of keep and bear arms
· Etc.

They served, they fought, and they died to preserve our God-given rights of:
· Life
· Liberty and
· The pursuit of happiness

We are thankful to them.

We are adamant that no one take them away from us.

And it sure feels like those who have been elected to serve our rights, are in an all-out attempt to strip them from us.

Every red-blooded American has a problem with that.

But as a Christian, I recognize that even those precious rights come second to,
B. Biblical Instructions
Acts 5:29 (KJV)
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

As well laid out as our country’s constitution is, there are times when what is American and what is Christian come into conflict.

I am interested in American civil liberties, so I have followed what’s been going on. I would not be opposed to actually participating in some of them except – a person does not have to be a Bible believing Christian to be a patriot and sometimes those types of patriots cross lines that Bible believing Christians ought not cross.

· I am not willing to use profanity, or yoke up with someone who does for the cause of patriotism.
· I am not willing to act out of anger or display hatred for my fellow man because his position is different than my own.
· I am not willing to give my church over to the protection of a civil authority in order to protect my freedom of assembly
· I am not willing to surrender the names of those who attend services in order to have what the government considers to be the privilege (not the right) of free worship

Biblically, assembling for worship is not a government provided right. It is a biblical instructed command.

A third prong on this fork is
C. The Second Greatest Commandment
Matthew 22:35-40 (KJV)
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

It was just a couple of weeks ago I ran into a quote from Puritan[2] pastor, Richard Baxter. When a plague ravaged through England in the 1600’s Baxter wrote something to the effect of,
“If the magistrates required me to quit worship for theological or legal reasons, I would have to defy the order.
But if the magistrate requests me to quit worship for the sake of the health of my neighbors, love would constrain me to comply.”

I had already thought something like that when this first came about, but the perspective of Baxter has changed my own thinking in many ways.

It’s not about me.
· It is first about the Lord
· It is then about my neighbor
Somewhere after that comes the whole thing of my rights as a citizen of the United States.

I remind you that the United States is nowhere to be found in the Bible.

Some Bible teachers even propose that the United States will be the Babylon of the Revelation.

I began praying in the middle of January that God would break anything necessary to make me – us Christlike.

Allow me to point out,
II. A CHRIST-LIKE ATTRIBUTE
Philippians 2:1-5 (KJV)
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

A companion passage would be,
Romans 12:1-10 (KJV)
Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

The passage in Romans 12 is all about church unity.

If we are going to experience that unity at any time, but especially at the this time, we have got to practice honoring and preferring one another.

My opinions, your opinions
· Our preferences
· Our comforts
· Our rights
Ought to give way to those of another.

At one time this would have meant something like:
· Holding a door and letting others enter before us or
· Offering our seat so someone else can sit down[3]

Right now it looks like this:
· Maintaining six feet until you find out if the person is comfortable being closer
· Wearing a mask if someone else is health compromised or
· Choosing not to enter if you do not want to wear a mask.
By all means it means not poking fun at someone who sees this pandemic through a different set of spectacles than you do.

Allow me to end with,
III. A MODERN DAY APPLICATION
Romans 14:1-7 (KJV)
Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

This controversy of eating meat was a very big deal in the first century of Christianity and it really has two sources of conflict.

First was the issue of Jewish clean and unclean meat.
The Mosaic law had identified the flesh of certain animals as unclean. Here comes Christianity and, suddenly, it appeared that eating those meats was no longer a problem.

1 Timothy 4:4 (KJV)
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

One of the signs of the last days would be religions that commanded to abstain from eating meats. I think we see it today in the modern push to practice Jewish laws again.

An account with Peter tied the eating of those meats with embracing Gentiles as believers.

Acts 10:9-14 (KJV)
On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:
And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.

In that light the question was much more important than whether you like pork chops or not.

It has to do with whether you can accept the mystery of God’s good pleasure as Paul called it in, Ephesians 1:9-10 (KJV)
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

It has to do with the doctrine of the local, New Testament Church.

The second issue had to do with eating meat that had been butchered as a sacrifice to a false god.
Once Gentiles were getting saved and added to the churches, some of their cultures were entering too.

Gentile people would often go to the open-air meat market where they could purchase meat that had been sacrificed to idols.

Once the sacrifice was finished, whatever meat was left over could be purchased for dinner.

The question was, since this meat had been sacrificed to an idol, was it appropriate for a Christian to eat it?

In response the Bible teaches, 1 Corinthians 8:4 (KJV)
As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.

Since there is none other God but one and
Since the idol is nothing in the world

The meat is just meat.
1 Corinthians 8:8 (KJV)
But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.

Eating the meat will not make me closer to God and
Eating the meat won’t be a sin against God

But there is this
Romans 14:19-21 (KJV)
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

And
1 Corinthians 8:13 (KJV)
Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

You might believe that the coronavirus is nothing in this world. I am inclined to agree.[4]

But you have no real proof.[5]

Or you might believe that the coronavirus is on the level of the black plague or the Spanish flu.

But you have no real proof.

The Bible tells you to, Romans 14:19-21 (KJV)
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
For [the virus] destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who [shelters] with offence.
It is good neither to [go about without care], nor to [wear a mask], nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

Conclusion
I am just saying that there is something far more important right now than your feelings, your comfort, and your rights.

· Show God and others that you can obey the Bible
· Show God and others that you can esteem others better than yourself

[1] https://www.facebook.com/groups/158015618707622
[2] Baxter was both a Protestant and a Calvinist. I, therefore, do not recommend his writings or most of his theology.
[3] What I notice more often now is that we don’t even want to scoot over so they can sit next to us.
[4] I have to say, though, I am not thoroughly convinced.
[5] Evidence is not proof